PLEASE help us eat properly!!!

Pink_butterfly_3

Thanks everyone for your replies!! I love this website as everyone is so thoughtful and helpful with their replies.

We bought a steamer with money we got for our wedding, suffice to say its never even been taken out of its box! I shall dust this off now and actually make use of it. I definately will have to get a slow cooker - my mum keeps asking me what I want for chirstmas, so this will be an ideal opportunity to get one!

Lynspower - thanks very much for your recipes, I think i'll try the spag bol tonight!!

Squeaky - Thanks very much for those threads, very very useful!!

Kazonline - Thanks for the ideas. I especially like the one about putting recipes in plastic folders for later use. I often scribble down recipes from t'internet and then can never find them again if I want to use them again!

A few of you mentioned freezing meals and then re-heating them (this is where i'm going to sound like a proper amateur!), can i just defrost them in the microwave and serve or do they need to go into the oven aswell. Is there anything you shouldn't freeze and re-heat??

Thank you everyone again!! :T :A

Bexstars

Hiya

Moast things can be frozen but if your using meat for a recipie that you have defrosted then it cant be re-frozen. I think its to do with bacteria breading in the thawing out and re-heating process. My mum is in catering and has taken all sorts of food hygiene courses and she told me about that

Hope this helps

newlywed

Others on here have said they heat frozen lasagna or shepherds pie direct from frozen but personally I like to defrost it first (as have experienced hot edges and freezing cold middle!!!). That's why a meal plan is good you can just check the night before what you need to move to the fridge to defrost and then forget it until it's nearer tea time!

When you reheat food, make sure it's piping hot all the way through.

I put my lasagna in the oven because I freeze it with cooked meat sauce but raw pasta and then after defrosting just cook it for 20 mins or so in the oven so the cheesy top goes crispy. Hope that helps.

newlywed

The other thing that's quick as well is pork chops or gammon steaks that can be grilled in about 10-15 minutes. Again just heat up tinned potato, veg at the same time and then do gravy (for pork) or brown sauce.

pol

Make a big pan of mash and freeze it in portions. You can then just give it 1-2 minutes in the microwave, stir and it's ready. Saves ages cooking time.

I love corned beef hash, chop 1 onion, 1 carrot, couple potatoes, cook with a beef stock cube and add half a tin of corned beef cubed. Really quick, cheap and good for you.

Mince can be cooked with a handful of lentils, a chopped onion and a carrot, then frozen in portions. Great for shepherds pie, bolognese sauce, pie filling, lasagne anything you like.

There are LOADS of great recipes on here, whatever your needs.

pol

Pink_butterfly_3

I've just spoken to my mum and shes going to get me a slow cooker for christmas!!

KittyKate

A huge help to me and my OH was a food processor (you can get one for £20-£30, ours is a Morphy Richards from Argos).

Boil veg (anything! leek & potato, butternut squash, peas, broccolli, carrot) and strain (keep the water you boiled it in). Chuck in processor and whizz, adding the boil water though the chute. Add salt/pepper/herbs to taste and voila! Soup for 4/5 for less than £2.

Buy a thermos (Asda do a small one for £2, Wilko's do a decent steel one for £4) and take some to work (whilst your tea is cooking in the slow cooker).

Not only is it cheap its so good for you, I feel tired after shop bought sarnies but full of life after a nutritious soup! And when you get home your house smells of food you only need to dish out! A whole day's food for 5 under a fiver

beachbeth

I agree with all the previous suggestions but would also add that you can easily make your own 'ready meals'. Make your plan for the next week - ie. Monday stew, Tuesday shepherds pie etc and if theres a day when you know you particularly won't have time or will be too tired to cook then make preparations ahead of time. If, for instance, you have spare time on a Saturday or Sunday, make a big batch of spaghetti bolognese and, once cooked and cooled, freeze into portions (remember to label it!). You then only have to get it out of the freezer the night before you want it and then put it in the oven covered in foil and cook on Gas 4 or 5 until bubbling and hot! Whilst its cooking away you are free to do your chores or put your feet up!

I, myself, cook chilli con carne in a big batch and always make sure I have one in the freezer for a Friday. Then, on Friday, I do all my housework in the morning and have a relaxing afternoon knowing that I haven't got to cook! Its a lovely start to the weekend!

Toxic_Lemon

I also batch cook, including things like chilli con carne, chicken casserole, oxtail casserole (my fave) and use a vaccuum sealer to create portion sizes and then label. The vaccuum seal bags can either be microwaved or boiled in the bag.

culpepper

Even a few simple all in the oven dinners would probably help you break the take away habit. veg can be cooked in a little casserole alongside whatever else is going in there.